Phantom – Cheap but good bluetooth headphones?

I went through a bit of a dilemma last year when I was looking for a cheap, yet good Bluetooth headphones to purchase. In the past two years, I became more dependent on Bluetooth headphones than on wired ones or earphones. I bought a Level U for my phone, and now was looking for wireless Bluetooth headphones. The problem I faced was that I had just bought a new phone and a laptop, finding a cheap, but good headphones seemed impossible. While doing my research, both online and offline, I came across Mpow.

I found some Mpow Bluetooth speakers being sold in some shops in Beirut, so I went ahead and gave them a try. It wasn’t the first time I hear of Mpow, but it was the first time I try any of their products. After further research turns out the speakers were being sold for more than double their original price (expected when you factor in shipping costs, taxes, and other types of costs). In the end, I went ahead and purchased the Mpow phantom Bluetooth 4.0 headphones, and this is my relatively short review of what to expect.

Trying to avoid the steep prices in Beirut, I bought the headphones at a discounted price online for about $45. The headphones are available in one color, black with matte finish. The headphones come with a USB cable and one AUX cable. The Phantom’s length is adjustable, as well as foldable which makes them easy to pack.

One thing that comes to mind for constant headphone users: Is how comfortable is it to use? Well, I’ve used the headphones for several hours for gaming and media consumption; and honestly, they were pretty comfy. The Phantom’s sound quality is pretty good, I’ve really enjoyed using it for music and video games. On the other hand, the sound clarity to callers could be really bad considering the Mic is far from the mouth.

You get various buttons on the headphones that help you control them. The left-hand side contains the play button, volume buttons with the Mic underneath them, a pairing button, power button, and the micro USB charging port. The right-hand side only contains a mute button.

The headphones can last for about 10 hours on a single charge, which is pretty good. One thing that can be annoying is that connecting an AUX cable without switching the headphones on is useless. If you want to save battery and prefer connecting them via an AUX cable, then you will have to connect them to a power source (computer, power bank, etc…) via the micro USB cable. Considering the price of the headphones, this drawback is one that I welcome.